From deep within the haziest depths of the Mojave Desert comes magical, mysterious Pioneertown, USA. (I know I refer to a lot of things as “magical” on this website, but this one really is, ya feel me?) And from deep within the murkiest depths of Brooklyn, NY comes the Woodsist label. Together, these two awesome forces have begotten something far greater than even a baby bunny sliding down a rainbow of snuggles and Quaaludes could even imagine: the appropriately named Woodsist Fest Pioneertown. And yea! Woodsist founder/Woods singer slash guitarist dude Jeremy Earl and the lovely people who run both Pappy and Harriet’s and the Pioneertown Motel saw that it was good.

For those who missed out on Woodsist’s similarly alluring Big Sur Fest, well, Pioneertown is basically your chance to redeem yourself and to bask in the glow of hanging out in an awesome venue near Joshua Tree National Park, surrounded by buildings from former Wild West movie sets that were rehabbed and now occupied by local artsy folk. This isn’t like that town populated entirely by retired circus wee folk that your drunk friend swears he visited in rural Wisconsin; this is a very real, very wonderful place. With decent nachos. Anyway. Whereas the Big Sur fest was two days, Pioneertown is only one, but you get (at least) seven excellent artists here in the desert, including Woods, White Fence, Real Estate, The Fresh and Onlys, The Babies, Parquet Courts, Jessica Pratt, and Alex Bleeker and The Freaks. Plus a DJ set by Derek James of the Entrance Band and the ever intriguing “more TBA.”

Woodsist Fest Pioneertown takes place Saturday, September 28. Tickets are available online. Big Sur sold out in record time, so don’t sleep on this one.

Are you a fan of Talibam!? I like the fact that when I type their name out at the end of a question, it appears as if I’m being overly exclamatory, but I don’t like the fact that having an exclamation point at the end of their name means that if it falls anywhere but at the end of a sentence, I have to deal with the incorrect capitalization of the next word that today’s word processing programs “helpfully” auto-create. “TMT-people” problems… but other than that, I like them a lot. I saw them live about a year ago, and their brand of realness was so real that the decently sized crowd had dwindled down to just my concert buddy and me by the end of the 45-minute set. They were just that real. I very much now know what it’s like for (keyboardist Matt) Mottel to be in a hotel.

Speaking of Talibam! though, did you know they’ve been making muzik (and now raps) for 10 years now? It’s true, and to commemorate this momentous occasion, the group has lined up a whole bunch of internet goodness for fans to consume. We all (now) know Talibam! can rhyme motel with hotel, but did you know they’ve got the latest word on the rap game? Or that they’ve been using the likes of Dan Deacon and MBV as inspiration for their mix series, Launch Pad? Well, it’s true, and with a new tour in support of their 2012 album for Critical Heights, Puff Up the Volume, they’re practically everywhere you turn on the world wide web. Including here, where you can see the band performing the title track from last year’s album with cool hand-drawn animation overlaying their playing, courtesy of director Katharina Huber.

Said tour kicked off at the TV on the Radio-hosted ATP in the UK and continues across Europe through the end of June. See the still-forming tour schedule below!

Hey, music fans, do you like music? I mean, really like music? If you answered “yes” (and then yes again, I guess), then you’ll want to keep reading at least until the end of this sentence wherein I tell you the news about the new Superchunk album, I Hate Music! Sounds delightful, doesn’t it? It comes out August 20 via everyone’s favorite indie-punk label, Vagrant Records. Haha, just kidding of course! It’s coming out on Merge, duh. You know, because the singer works there? I think he’s a janitor or something. Don’t know how he got hooked up with that sweet gig. Anyway! Let’s not get bogged down in “accurate” or “detailed information.” On to more content!

I Hate Music is the band’s freakin’ tenth studio album, believe it or not; and it’s also their first since 2010’s pretty cool Majesty Shredding. In fact, the press release calls I Hate MusicMajesty Shredding’s “dark twin” — which totally sounds racist, doesn’t it? — before clarifying that statement a little. Turns out that the new one is “similarly aggressive” and “every bit as energetic” but with a “dark undercurrent” as well. It also assures all the young Turks out there that the new title “isn’t tongue-in-cheek, but it’s really more a question than a statement: When you’re 20, lazy co workers and romantic missteps number among your biggest worries; two decades later, life’s bigger questions knock louder and louder, demanding answers.” Hear that? Life’s gonna get a lot worse, suckers!

Speaking of purchasing it, though (I was, wasn’t I?), it’s coming out on CD, LP, and digital, with a limited-edition deluxe LP that comes on colored vinyl and includes a bonus 7-inch with two non-album tracks and a sweet “I Hate Music” stencil (oh, and both the standard and deluxe version LPs are 150-gram vinyl with a die-cut sleeve, and all pre-orders from the Merge store will come with a sweet poster, the first 200 of which will be signed by the band). Whoa, whoa, not so fast! It’s 2013 folks, so you can check out the trailer below and find out for yourself before you just mindlessly buy a product you’ve never heard based on the band’s solid reputation alone. Come on now. Don’t act like such a bunch of pop-punk oldsters! You’ll embarrass me in front of Superchunk.

Sunny California. A state where dreams become stars and stars become Lindsay Lohan. Where the jasmine is always in bloom and where the surf’s always up. Where people actually work with trained chimps and basketball-playing dogs and IT’S THEIR JOB. Yes, it truly is an incredible place. In fact, it’s so damn incredible that My Bloody Valentine are coming to Los Angeles’ FYF Festival to play their first US show in four years, and their first stateside show since their new album dropped earlier this year. The band has not yet announced whether any other North American shows will happen post-fest. So let’s all just hold up FYF Fest like a shiny penny scrounged up by a drunk hipster raccoon from the bottom of a creek and marvel and its beauty and splendor. Ooooohhhhh. Ahhhhhhhh. My Bloody Valentine outsiiiiiiiiiide.

In addition to MBV, there’s a whole slew of other noteworthy acts lining up for this year’s FYF Fest. From August 24-25, Los Angeles State Historic Park will be awash with the sweet, sweet sounds of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House, Chelsea Wolfe, MGMT, Solange, Deerhunter, Death Grips, Yo La Tengo, TV On The Radio, Waxahatchee, The Breeders doing Last Splash in its entirety, How to Dress Well, Baroness, !!!, Foxygen, Devendra Banhart, Eleanor Friedberger, Kurt Vile and The Violators, Holy Ghost!!!, FLAG, Jonathan Richman, Glasser, METZ, Roky Erickson, Mikal Cronin, Mac DeMarco, and so many more. Tickets to L.A.’s best excuse to get drunk outside go on sale starting Tuesday.

Over at le Grinder de Chocolat, C Monster provided a nice overview of the initial version of Deeper Than Trax, but unfortunately most of the links offered have since been rendered inactive. Where’s Leo? I need his permission to go deeper to find Deeper. The tracks aren’t hidden among the substantial cleavage of the other DJ Diamond; I know, because I spent a considerable amount of time looking, for research purposes. Diamond’s SoundCloud probably satisfies the frugal, but what about those with a penchant for fidelity, footwork, and making it rain (in $15 increments)? Why, surf over to Juno or check out the iTunes Store to purchase the complete, newly released, and downloadable version of the Deeper Than Trax EP, which is sponsored by the Amsterdam-based label, Liquorish Dubz.

Please ignore the dubious opinions of RYMers, and put your trust in TMT. This stuff is gold, or shall I say, oh… you know.

Well, here we are. Summer will be bearing down at any moment now. Technically, that moment comes in roughly a month-and-a-half, but it will feel like summer for much of the nation long before then. Brooklyn’s Small Black will be using these summer months to head out on tour with their buddies Heavenly Beat. While they’ll be beginning their tour in the milder climates of Canada and the Northeastern United States, it will take them to more hellish summer destinations like Texas and Arizona. They’ll end up back in their homebase of Brooklyn at the tour’s end, presumably thankful that it’s (probably) not 100+ degrees there.

Those summer months are ideal beer-drinking months, according to many people who enjoy drinking beer in the summer. Appropriately, Small Black now have their own beer. Stillwater Artisanal Ales has worked with the band to create a Small Black beer, following Lower Dens as the second entry in the brewery’s Sensory Series. The beer is a 5% ABV black saison inspired by the band’s song “Breathless” with a base of German malts and a debittered roasted barley. Aside from the ABV part, I hardly understand what any of that means, but I bet it’s good. Even if it’s not, the beer does contain a QR code that lets you watch a live video of “Breathless” recorded in Brooklyn and Nashville, so there’s that.

Tomorrow, May 14, Jagjaguwar is releasing Small Black’s second record, Limits of Desire. Check out the video for “Free At Dawn” here: